Disease/Infection News

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Potential vaccine against trachoma

An attenuated, or weakened, strain of Chlamydia trachomatis bacteria can be used as a vaccine to prevent or reduce the severity of trachoma, the world's leading cause of infectious blindness, suggest findings from a National Institutes of Health study in monkeys.

10 Oct 2011

Unither Virology receives NIAID contract for glycobiology antiviral platform

United Therapeutics Corporation announced that its subsidiary, Unither Virology, LLC, has been awarded a contract for up to approximately $45 million under a Broad Agency Announcement from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), for studies directed at the development of a broad-spectrum antiviral drug based on its glycobiology antiviral platform.

10 Oct 2011

Pharmasset adds two treatment arms to PSI-7977 ELECTRON trial on HCV

Pharmasset, Inc. announced today the addition of two treatment arms to the ELECTRON trial of PSI-7977, a nucleotide analog polymerase inhibitor, for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C.

10 Oct 2011

VGX International, Inovio partner to co-develop SynCon vaccines for hepatitis B and C infections

Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leader in the development of synthetic vaccines against cancers and infectious diseases, announced today that it has entered into a product development collaboration agreement with its affiliate, VGX International Inc., to co-develop Inovio's SynCon therapeutic vaccines for hepatitis B and C infections.

10 Oct 2011

UMass Amherst SPHHS wins HHS award to create Public Health Training Center

Training to improve the nation's public health system by strengthening the technical, scientific, managerial and leadership competence of current and future public health workers will soon be underway in Springfield, Holyoke, Pittsfield and the Berkshires, supported by a four-year, $2.5 million grant to the School of Public Health and Health Sciences (SPHHS) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

10 Oct 2011

Experts take study on contraceptive use, HIV risk seriously but warn about drawing conclusions prematurely because of study's 'methodological weaknesses'

In this post in RH Reality Check, Jodi Jacobson, editor-in-chief of the blog, responds to an article published in the New York Times on Tuesday regarding a study suggesting that "HIV-negative women using injectable contraception might face a two-fold risk of acquiring HIV from their infected partners, and that HIV-positive women using injectable contraceptives may be twice as likely to pass the virus on to their uninfected partners."

10 Oct 2011

NIH awards LSUHSC $9 million grant to develop pneumonia vaccine

Dr. Judd Shellito, Chief of the Section of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, has been awarded approximately $9 million in grant funding to develop a vaccine against Pneumocystis, an important cause of pneumonia in people with HIV infection. This potentially fatal illness is the most common serious opportunistic infection in people with HIV.

7 Oct 2011

DfID's reduction in bilateral AIDS spending may increase need for funding later

In a letter to the Guardian in response to the news that the U.K. Department for International Development (DfID) plans to cut bilateral aid for HIV/AIDS by nearly one-third, Nathan Ford, medical coordinator for Medecins Sans Frontieres, writes that the agency's decision "comes at a critical moment," after "[v]arious studies published in the past year have shown widespread access to treatment and prevention can dramatically cut HIV/AIDS transmission, and allow for consideration of an end to the epidemic."

7 Oct 2011

Huffington Post profiles UNITAID chair

The Huffington Post profiles Philippe Douste-Blazy, U.N. under-secretary-general of Innovative Financing for Development and chair of UNITAID, a financing mechanism he conceived in 2004 to help provide medicines for HIV, tuberculosis and malaria in developing countries.

7 Oct 2011

Cuts to U.S. military's HIV research program threaten HIV vaccine progress

Fred Sawe, deputy director of the Kenya Medical Research Institute/Walter Reed Project HIV Program in Kericho, Kenya, and Mitchell Warren, executive director of AVAC: Global Advocacy for HIV Prevention, report in Global Health Magazine that "[t]he Department of the Army is set to slash 73 percent of the U.S. Military HIV Research Program's (MHRP) Army research budget for FY13 through FY17," a move they write is a threat to HIV vaccine progress.

7 Oct 2011

How will NTDs suffer as global health agenda adds NCD focus?

In this post in the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases' "End the Neglect" blog, Charles Ebikeme, a writer for the All Results Journals who has worked as a research scientist on African sleeping sickness, examines a "blurring" link between non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), writing, "The topsy-turvy nature of NTDs extends far beyond infectious diseases and is becoming increasingly more complicated."

7 Oct 2011

MSF calls on Brazilian government to step up production of only drug for Chagas disease

Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has called on the Brazilian government "to ensure its state-owned drug company steps up production of the only drug for Chagas disease, which affects 10 million people in Latin America," Guardian Health Editor Sarah Boseley writes in her "Global Health Blog" (10/6).

7 Oct 2011

Chicago Council on Global Affairs report calls on agriculture, food sectors to fight global rise in NCDs

"A new report released by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, 'Bringing Agriculture to the Table: How Agriculture and Food Can Play a Role in Preventing Chronic Disease,' calls on the agriculture and food sector to play a role in mitigating the global rise in non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and identifies new opportunities for those in health and agriculture to work together to promote better health."

7 Oct 2011

Research roundup: Health disparities; Prescription drug abuse in Medicare Part D; Medicaid's role for HIV patients

Achieving Equity In Health -- This policy brief examines the outlining factors that cause disparities in the health care system and focuses on the October issue of the journal, which is devoted to research on the subject.

7 Oct 2011

New laboratory in Kenya will research, monitor emerging infectious diseases

"A laboratory that will research and monitor emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) such as yellow fever and dengue" was launched in Kenya last month "in an attempt to tackle growing vector-borne health threats in the region," SciDev.Net reports.

7 Oct 2011

PEPFAR ART cost model data presented to PEPFAR Scientific Advisory Board

"For every 1,000 patient-years of PEPFAR-supported HIV treatment provided, 228 fewer HIV patients die, 449 fewer children become orphans, 61 fewer sexual HIV transmissions occur and 26 fewer 'vertical' transmissions (e.g. mother-to-child) occur," John Blanford of the CDC told the PEPFAR Scientific Advisory Board in Washington, D.C., on September 14, according to a post in the Center for Global Health Policy's "Science Speaks" blog.

7 Oct 2011

AHRQ finds septicemia as the most costly hospital condition in 2009

Septicemia, an illness caused by blood infections with bacteria such as E. coli and MRSA, was the single most expensive condition treated in U.S. hospitals at nearly $15.4 billion in 2009, according to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

7 Oct 2011

Recap of key briefing on advancements in malaria fight

This post in the Malaria Policy Center blog recaps a Tuesday Capitol Hill briefing, hosted by Senators Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), co-chairs of the Senate Working Group on Malaria, "that highlighted research and development advancements by the U.S. military and U.S. academic institutions to develop the tools to eliminate malaria and keep our servicemen and women safe as they serve overseas."

7 Oct 2011

Scientists discover two HIV variants in cerebrospinal fluid of HAD patients

When the virus that causes AIDS infects the central nervous system, it can lead to the development of a severe neurological disease called HIV- associated dementia.

7 Oct 2011

Keeping HIV patients on ART will have long-term economic benefits, study shows

Investments to keep 3.5 million people living with HIV on antiretroviral drugs provided by programs co-financed through the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria through 2020 will cost an estimated $14.2 billion, but "the financial savings would amount to between $12 billion and $34 billion," according to a study published in the journal PLoS One, Sarah Boseley reports in her "Global Health Blog" in the Guardian.

7 Oct 2011